> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.runaether.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Billing & Credits

> How Aether meters usage: credits buy VM runtime; model calls on Aether inference draw on a separate prepaid balance.

Aether bills VM runtime in one unit: the **credit**. A credit buys workspace VM runtime — the time an agent's machine is actively running. Model calls are separate: a call made on Aether inference is charged, at the provider's list price, to your organization's prepaid [inference balance](/guides/billing#buy-inference-balance); a call made with your own provider account or subscription is recorded for [usage reporting](/guides/usage) but never billed. Neither touches your credits.

## What a credit buys

Every workspace runs on one of three [runtime classes](/concepts/pricing-and-tiers). Each class has a fixed per-hour credit rate:

| Runtime class | Credits / hour |
| - | - |
| Small | 5 |
| Medium | 10 |
| Large | 20 |

Medium is the reference rate: **1 credit = 6 minutes of Medium VM active time** (10 credits/hour). Credits are charged for active runtime only, prorated by the second.

## What consumes credits

Credits are debited for workspace VM runtime:

| Reason | What it covers |
| - | - |
| `vm_runtime` | A workspace VM's active time, charged at its runtime class's per-hour rate. |

Administrative grants and corrections appear under `adjustment`. Building or rebuilding a [warm pool's](/concepts/warm-slots) prewarmed environment does not spend credits, and no token-based charge is ever made against credits.

<Note>
  Token counts (in/out/total) are recorded per task, model, and agent and shown in the [usage explorer](/guides/usage). They never affect your credit balance; calls on Aether inference are charged in dollars to the [inference balance](/guides/billing#buy-inference-balance) instead.
</Note>

## Balance and ledger

Your credit balance is a signed ledger. Each entry is one credit transaction:

**Credits added**

* `subscription_grant` — your monthly tier allowance, granted each billing cycle
* `credit_pack_purchase` — a one-time [credit pack](/concepts/pricing-and-tiers)
* `promo_grant` — promotional credits
* `admin_adjustment` (positive) — manual grant

**Credits removed**

* `vm_runtime_debit` — VM active time
* `expiration_debit` — credit-pack credits that reached their expiry
* `refund_reversal` — reversal of a refunded purchase
* `admin_adjustment` (negative) — manual correction

Historical ledgers may contain `snapshot_refresh_debit` entries from the retired warm-environment billing model. Aether does not create new entries of this type.

When you spend, credits are drawn from your subscription grant first, then from credit packs (earliest expiry first), then from promotional and admin grants. The billing projection reports your credits remaining.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="CLI">
    ```bash theme={"dark"}
    aether billing summary
    ```

    Prints your plan, payment state, monthly credit grant, remaining or owed credits, and cycle end when available. `aether billing balance` is an alias for the same summary.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Web">
    The billing settings page shows your current projected credit balance.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

Usage shows current-cycle model usage. Billing shows your remaining or owed credits.

## Running a task costs credits

Starting a task spends VM-runtime credits, so each start passes through an **admission gate** before the agent runs. A task start is admitted only when all of these hold:

* Your billing state is billable (an active or in-grace subscription).
* You have at least **1 minute** of spendable credit for that runtime class.

If any check fails, the task start is refused with one of:

| Failure | Meaning |
| - | - |
| `billing_blocked` | Your plan is not in a billable state for new task starts. |
| `credits_exhausted` | Not enough spendable credit to start the task — buy more credits or wait for renewal. |

<Tip>
  The one-minute minimum prevents a near-zero balance from being immediately exhausted on launch. See [Pricing & Tiers](/concepts/pricing-and-tiers) for runtime-class rates and credit packs.
</Tip>


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